Long Road
by Whale Too Bad
Summary: The life of a demigod is said to have no end. The heroes have a lot to do even after the war. When the immediate threat is gone, they can't keep pushing these problems aside for later. (Not in exact chronological order, chapters will skip around.
1. Chapter 1

The son of death didn't know how he felt about this. Sure enough, a week ago, he'd confidently told Percy that he wasn't his "type"—not entirely true, but not entirely false—but now, said confidence seemed to have all but vanished. Nico had been avoiding his former flame for the last few days, unsure of how this inevitable conversation would go. He didn't know how he should explain, how he should respond. How would Percy react?

Thoughts like this churned through the hero's mind constantly that whole week. He'd started sitting with the Seven (and Reyna), who seemed to have finally taken a liking to him, but when Percy would arrive, Nico would make some excuse and leave before any kind of conversation could occur. Once or twice, he'd been forced to stay, but it wasn't so bad, as long as he wasn't _alone_ with the son of Poseidon.

Even now, as he set his plate down on the table the Seven shared, he had made sure that Jason was already there, so there was no chance of Percy cornering him. The son of Jupiter smiled brightly at Nico, and the Ghost King was one hundred percent convinced that it was in fact possible to be too happy.

"Morning, Nico!"

Nico hid a grin, and grunted. It was too much effort to be polite at nine in the morning. Jason only chuckled, knowing his friend's behavior all too well.

"What's so funny..." The smaller boy muttered, not turning to face Jason.

"You're like an animal, you have a kinda schedule of when you're irritable and when you're not. It's kinda cute to picture you as a koala bear." The words came out of Jason's mouth, and from the look on his face he didn't seem to hear anything strange in them.

"Did you hear what you just said?"

The son of Jupiter slung his arm around Nico's shoulders as he laughed.

"Fuck off."

Jason grinned even wider. Just then, Annabeth and Piper joined them. Piper stole a quick kiss from Jason, causing Nico to roll his eyes, and Annabeth looked around for the rest of the group. Hazel was just stepping out of the Hades cabin, where she'd been staying with Nico. There was a parakeet on her shoulder, which was assumed to be Frank.

Nico squinted at his sister (who had no idea he'd even seen her). He hadn't known Frank was in the cabin. Hades knew what the two had been doing that night... Nico was an incredibly heavy sleeper.

Jason must have picked up on his friend's thoughts, as he lightly patted his back, causing the son of Hades to grimace as he instinctively tried to move away from the physical contact. Piper had noticed the not-so-discreet exchange, and a playful grin spread across her face.

"Is that an overprotective brother I see? Or is it Nico... Hmm?" She asked Annabeth, pretending the boy in front of her couldn't hear her.

Nico rolled his eyes. _Annabeth's better than that. She wouldn't—_

"Oh _nooooo_ Nico your little baby sister's all GROWN UP!"

"A-Annabeth? You too?!"

The blonde high fived Piper, and the two continued on their tirade against the poor son of Hades. Neither noticed the startled expression that appeared on Nico's face when he noticed a confused son of Poseidon sit down across from him.

"Hey guys, who're we making fun of?" He asked looking from Annabeth to Piper to Jason. All three simultaneously pointed to Nico, who appeared to be attempting to turn the table into a ghost, judging from the way he was glaring down.

"You'll never guess who happens to be the cutest overprotective brother." Piper said, as Percy nearly choked on his water. He looked at the son of Hades across from him.

"No way." _No response._ "Nico! Oh my gods, that's the best thing I've heard this morning. I would _pay_ to see you beat up Frank!"

"Shut up, Percy." Nico grumbled as the group continued to poke at him both literally and figuratively. "Also... um guys, could we... _not_ tell Hazel?"

A collective "Awwwww" then caused Nico to roll his eyes for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"Fuck this, I'm out." At this, the others started to hurriedly apologize, trying to appease the annoyed boy.

"Oh come _on_ Nico, we're joking!" Percy said, seconds before a piece of toast hit him square on the nose. "See that's better. Nice aim, too."

Nico awkwardly smiled a little, trying to act natural around Percy. _I'm not nervous. You're nervous._

Piper waved over to Leo to hurry up, and the son of Hephaestus jogged over, and sat beside Piper, showing everyone something he'd done with a phone he must have "confiscated" from one of his poor siblings. To be quite honest, Nico tuned this bit out. It was boring as hell, and he _really_ didn't see the point in this kind of technology. It's not like demigods could ever actually use it.

The son of Hades hardly noticed he was dozing off until the tall blonde beside him shook him by his shoulders.

"Will?" he asked hopefully.

Nope. Not Will.

"Jason." he grumbled, more annoyedly.

"You okay? You seem to be more ... out of it than usual." The son of Jupiter sounded genuinely concerned, although a small smile remained on his face. The rest of the group— _oh hey Hazel and Frank showed up_ —had quieted down, and looked at Nico with hints of worry in their eyes. He must have been silent for a while, as Jason shook him lightly again. "Nico? Anyone in there?"

"Y-Yeah, it's just early." He managed, sleepily.

Jason seemed unconvinced, but he settled for that answer, seemingly knowing that he wouldn't get any better for now. _He would be right about that._

"So Hazel. Anything you wanna... _confess_?" Nico stared expectantly at his sister, who fidgeted nervously. Everyone turned to stare at her. Piper was grinning and blushing with excitement.

"N-No... Why?"

Nico looked at her, slightly hurt that she thought she'd have to hide from him. After a pause, he responded, "No reason."

Jason looked at his friend, and squeezed his shoulder. "Anyway, I hear Travis and Connor are doing something to the Ares—"

A burst of flames and screams interrupted Sparky's sentence. Even Leo, who had _literally_ the best fire Nico had ever seen, looked impressed. After a moment of admiration, Annabeth stirred.

"Should we help them?" She asked, as if it was a genuine question to be debated.

Percy was already on his feet, as was Nico. It seemed that no one else seemed particularly anxious to help the Ares kids. The two heroes ran to Cabin 5, side by side.

"I'll get as many out as I can. You stop the fire at its source." Nico said flatly.

Percy was unbelievably impressed with how calm Nico was.

"G-Got it. Good luck." He managed.

"You too." The son of death said in an undertone before he rammed the door with his shoulder, and disappeared in the flames of the cabin.

* * *

Smoke clogged his vision as Nico gathered the children of war into the center of the room, away from the flaming walls. Between coughs, he managed, "Stay here!" "Don't move!" He concentrated, and used the flames to his advantage. Because of the firelight, all the shadows in the room were stronger than normal. He willed them to surround the group of half-bloods.

Several strings of black began to rise from the ground. They formed spirals around the demigods in the center of the room. They began to close in, and finally the children of Ares and Nico had disappeared into the void.

* * *

Percy watched his cousin break into the cabin, and couldn't help feeling a little worried for the boy. _Focus. Right, so..._

He pulled on some water from the fountain behind him. From what he saw, the fire must have been started from the roof of the cabin, so he dried the fountain and put all the water on top of the incredibly flammable roof. _Maybe Leo can get us better roofs?_ Percy spread the water like a sheet on the roof, trying to snuff out the flames.

It sure as hell wasn't gonna be that easy. He needed more water. He pulled some from the air. The fire seemed to calm down a bit, but there was just too much oxygen, and the fire was still burning through the thick roof. _Gods, I hope everyone's okay..._ A thought crept into Percy's mind.

"Jason! Help!" Percy would've really loved some wind at this time. Maybe to put out the fire. As if the blonde had read his mind, a huge gust of wind came by Percy, and he had to dig his fingers into the ground to keep himself down.

It must have been less than fifteen seconds, but it felt like an eternity before Jason let the wind die down. Percy looked up to see that his friend had entirely ripped the roof off of the cabin, and thus effectively removed the source of the fire. The son of Poseidon chuckled at the thought of innocent mortals seeing a flaming roof flying above them. _Wonder what the mist does to that._

Sure enough, the cabin was empty thanks to Nico. Percy turned just in time to see a burst of darkness, and the appearance of several coughing Ares campers and Nico under a tall pine tree. Jason was already there calming the confused kids down.

Percy ran over to them, and noticed Nico looked a bit pale. He made his way to the smaller boy. "Nice job, Nico. What do you think we should do about the missing roof? I'm sure Chiron will notice if we don't replace it..." Nico was silent, and he seemed to be turning even more pale. "Hey, you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, it's just ... a lot of people to shadow travel with. I'll be fine." Nico staggered back a step. Any chance of convincing Percy was now gone.

"Come on, let's get you back to your cabin, you need rest." Percy motioned toward Cabin 13. Nico hesitated. "Come on Nico, you can't do this to yourself. You _know_ you need to lie down."

"Yeah but..." Nico looked down.

Percy understood. "You don't wanna go back in there do you..." The son of Hades shook his head. He couldn't blame him either. He hated Cabin 3 sometimes too. Children of the big three were lonely in their cabins. The cabins were oppressive. Daunting. Percy knew how Nico felt. "You wanna go for a walk?"

"I-It's really not a big deal, you don't have to—"

"Nico, come on. It'll be fun. Anyway I haven't seen much of you lately... and I can't help but think that... you want it that way." The look on Nico's face was pitiful. He looked full of regret, but also anxious.

"I-It's not... That's not... A-Alright let's take a walk..." The son of Hades said, trying not to stutter. Percy smiled. It meant a lot to him that Nico was trying.

"Awesome." He put his arm around Nico's shoulders, inviting a grunt from the somewhat uncomfortable boy.

As they walked through the safe part of the woods, there was silence, and then there wasn't. Bits of conversation stuck out every so often. Mostly small talk, until the inevitable topic came up.

"So... types?"

Nico stiffened. "What?"

Percy continued. "Types. I know I'm not yours. Care to explain?"

Nico stammered incoherently, and Percy genuinely felt bad for putting him on the spot like this. Finally he took a deep breath and with an almost steady voice, he said. "I had a crush on you."

Both boys stopped walking. Percy looked at Nico's face, and Nico looked at the ground. Percy didn't know what to say. He would never have expected this. He never would've thought Nico would _like_ him. It did make some sense, but it was a complete curve ball. Was Percy supposed to be flattered? He may or may not have been a little flattered. Should he apologize? He just didn't know what to do. "Oh." Was all he could think of.

"I-I'll leave if you w-want." Nico said, with what might have been tears forming in his eyes.

"No, don't go. We need to talk." Percy had to get a few things clear.

Nico managed to meet his eyes, and the son of Hades looked so... for once he looked completely transparent. He wasn't hiding anything. Percy remembered the last time he'd seen this. It was when he'd saved him and Bianca from the manticore. Ever since then, there'd been shadows. There were excuses. There were half truths, and there was just _something_ missing. Nico did have his moments, when he'd do his best to be a part of the group, but it was never really complete. But in that moment, he was.

"Nico... I didn't know you felt that way. I'm... I'm so sorry I can't... you know. Reciprocate?" Percy tried hard to imagine how Nico had kept this a secret for so long, and suddenly he wasn't so

Nico looked down. "Don't worry about it. I came to terms with that a long time ago."

"Is... Is this why you've been avoiding me?"

Nico nodded hesitantly. He didn't know what to do now. He really had expected a more negative reaction from Percy. This was weird.

"Nico... you should never be afraid to talk to me. You're my friend. You're important to me." Nico was silent for a minute.

"Thanks." He said almost in a whisper. The two stood in silence, giving them both time to process everything. They continued walking, without a word from either. Just as they were reaching the edge of the water, Percy was the one to break the silence.

"So if _I_ 'm not your type, who the hell is?" He asked, mildly offended.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Fuck you."


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a full three days since Gaea had been defeated, but the Seven—Six rather—couldn't come to terms with the fact that Leo was really gone. It just didn't make sense. Every morning, Jason would wake up in tears. Piper would never have to ask why. She knew. It haunted them the most, probably since they'd been the closest to him. They'd be together at night— _Watching stars, get your mind out of the gutter._ —and they'd suddenly break into tears and hold onto each other to stay sane.

In the weeks prior to the battle, Jason had felt Leo slowly drifting away. It was his fault of course, he and Piper had done a lot more together without him. He'd promised himself he'd spend more time with Leo after the war ended. Now he wished he'd done it sooner. Before he'd started dating Piper, the three had been an inseparable trio, nothing but equals; things had changed in the last year though, and Jason felt immeasurably guilty for that. They'd tried to convince Leo—and themselves—that he wasn't a third wheel, but subconsciously they'd maybe... treated him like it? Jason couldn't stand the thought. He knew how much he loved Leo, and he knew how much Piper loved Leo. He just wished they'd said it more, before it was too late. Now his best friend was gone, and he'd probably died feeling neglected.

This was what brought the brave, seemingly stoic son of Jupiter to tears.

The fourth morning he'd woken up with a start. He sat up and held his head in his hands. It took him a moment to get a grip on reality. Leo. Was. Gone. Leo. Gone. Leo. Gone? Leo. Leo. Leo. Jason started to sob. He lied back down as his sobs shook his body. He didn't know what to do anymore. He knew he couldn't go on this way, and he knew Leo would only want the best for him, no matter how much Jason didn't deserve it after he'd unwittingly ignored him for so many weeks...

No... months. Jason thought back to the six months before the quest _really_ began. The months when... when Leo had been building the _Argo II_. He'd been so caught up in his relationship with Piper that he'd... oh gods... six months. He hadn't had more than two actual conversations with Leo during that time. Sure there was the small talk—even that wasn't daily—but that was it. Jason hated himself. All he wanted now was a second chance. He would've given anything. _Anything_. Just to have Leo back. Just to have the chance to treat him better. Even just for a minute. Just enough time to tell him how important he was to them. It was better than nothing, but... it was impossible.

Jason had begged Nico to take him to his friend in the Underworld, but the son of Hades insisted he couldn't locate Leo's spirit down there. He said that by that logic, Leo was still alive. Jason wished. He knew it was probably just some trick of the mist. Some twisted game the gods had thought out for him.

By now, the tears were streaming down Jason's face, and any hope of stopping them was lost. The hero... well he couldn't call himself that anymore. He wasn't a hero. He'd let his friend die. He wasn't worthy of that title anymore. _Storm and fire._ It should have been storm. Why wasn't it storm.

Jason screamed. He screamed for his friend. He screamed at himself. He screamed at the gods. He screamed until he couldn't. His throat was raw. He lay in his bed, shaking, the last few tears making their way down his cheeks. He whimpered, not wanting to face life. But he knew he had to. That was what Leo would make him do.

Ten minutes later, the door to Cabin 1 opened, and Jason walked out to breakfast. He didn't notice—well he did, but he just felt numbed to everything—the rest of the Six and Nico sitting with him. He made eye contact with Piper, and she squeezed his hand from across the table. He looked over to the empty spot at the table. He wanted so badly for that spot to be filled again. He wanted to hear the sound of the squeaky machinery that Leo constantly played with. He wanted more than all to hear one of Leo's stupid puns. He'd secretly loved them all along, but now he had no intention of keeping it secret. He needed something—anything—to hold on to Leo.

* * *

Leo felt Calypso's arms around his waist as they rode Festus off of Ogygia. This was the fourth day of the journey home, and they were just now reaching New York. He petted the side of Festus's neck, inducing an approving squeak from the happiest dragon known to man.

Camp Half-Blood was just coming into view, and Leo let out a whoop of excitement.

"Hey Festus! Let's get some flames out to... announce ourselves?" Leo rubbed his palms together in anticipation, and Calypso rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about useless demigods, which Leo happily pretended not to hear.

As much as Leo had felt like a seventh wheel earlier, he genuinely could not wait to see his friends again. Well, that is if they _were_ friends. Sometimes he was confused. He pushed all this out of his mind as Festus spit out a gigantic fireball which exploded like a firework directly above Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

Jason had just gone to use the bathroom in the big house when Piper saw the fireball/firework in the sky. She dropped her fork in surprise.

"What the hell _is_ that?!" She got to her feet and squinted up at the sky. Slowly a bronze dragon came into view, and she could just make out two small figures on its back. She nearly passed out.

Hazel was the first to say it. "I-Is that... Is it him?" Frank grinned a little in admiration and relief. Annabeth and Percy both looked equally ecstatic at what—or who—was just landing at the edge of the woods.

The group left the table and ran to the spot where the dragon, which Piper had decided to be Festus, had landed, and getting down from its metal backside, she saw something that made her choke.

"Hey, Pipes." Leo said, grinning cheekily. Piper opened her mouth then closed it again. She walked forward slowly in disbelief.

"You... Leo..." Then suddenly she snapped out of it and wrapped her arms around the son of Hephaestus. "You're alive! Oh my gods don't _scare_ me like that! Do you know how worried I was?!" She finally stopped to take a breath and look at Leo.

"Sorry bout that..." He said, still smiling.

* * *

Jason had heard the explosion from the bathroom, and cursed about timing. He quickly left the bathroom and, seeing his table empty, asked Chiron where his friends had gone.

"Haven't you heard? Something landed by the woods, and they've all gone to investigate." The old centaur said, winking as if he knew something that he wasn't going to tell Jason.

Jason didn't wait to put on his glasses. He just ran. He ran in the direction of the woods. He felt his heart soar with hope. He knew it wasn't worth it. He couldn't get his thoughts this high, because it wasn't possible. Leo was gone. This was something else. He prepared himself for the disappointment.

He had some trouble seeing things (his eyes were adjusting away from the glasses), so he looked at the ground while he ran. Percy came into view. Then Annabeth. Then Frank. Then Hazel. Then Nico. Then Piper. Then... _no..._

* * *

Piper was beaming at Leo, and Leo couldn't help but smile back. He'd missed her. He was happy to see everyone. Well, almost everyone. Jason wasn't there for whatever reason.

Just then, the son of Jupiter sprinted up to Piper's side and looked up at Leo. His eyes widened, and his glasses fell from his hand. Leo winced, as he saw one lens shatter.

"That _can't_ be good for your eyesight, dude."

Jason said nothing. He took a shaky step forward, his eyes wetter than usual. Dark circles had developed under them, a sign of sleep-deprivation. His skin was also dried, from what seemed like tears. Leo raised an eyebrow, as Jason stepped on his glasses, too distracted to care.

"You okay there, Sparky?"

Jason's hands were shaking, and he was only a few feet away from Leo. Then suddenly the son of Jupiter whimpered and threw himself at Leo.

Leo felt Jason's arms wrap around him tightly, and pretended not to notice the moisture on his shoulder where Jason's head was. Leo hugged him back and patted him on the back repeatedly.

"Y-You're alive... Oh gods..." Jason's voice cracked, and he sobbed harder. Leo laughed a little.

"Yup! Sorry to disappoint, but your ever-awesome captain ain't gonna let you off that easy!"

At this, he felt Jason's embrace tighten.

"Jason? Is everything ... fine?"

Jason finally pulled away, and Leo didn't like what he saw. The hero's eyes were rimmed with red, and a few stray tears were still on his cheeks. He was biting his lip, trying hard not to lose his cool again. Leo could see his lip quivering no matter how hard he bit it.

"Y-Yeah! E-Everything's okay... especially now that y-you're back..." He hastily dried his cheeks with his sleeve. Leo hated to see him like this, but he couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that he cared that much.

"That's a lot of tears, man... You sure that's all it is?"

"Wh-What do you mean?! M-My _best friend_ was d- _dead_! Is that not e-enough?!" Jason looked shocked at what Leo had asked, as if it was preposterous to even say something like that.

"I guess it is. But don't worry, it won't happen again, I promise you guys." Leo patted Jason on the shoulder.

The rest of the Seven went on to greet Leo with varying reactions. Hazel actually slapped him for making her worry. Frank had finally offered his friendship (which Leo gladly accepted). Percy had grinned and challenged Leo to a pun war, before seriously expressing his relief at the smaller boy being alive. Annabeth was relieved as well, but insisted on knowing how he'd pulled this whole thing off. They'd agreed to discuss logistics sometime later. Nico had smiled genuinely and told Leo he'd been suspicious all along. No one noticed who else had gotten off Festus's back.

"Guys, um... this is..." He motioned to the girl who had been standing in silence, and who Jason hadn't even noticed till now. "Calypso."

Percy visibly tensed. "Hey... I'm uh... sorry I didn't make sure Zeus kept his promise... I'm sorry I didn't make sure you were freed."

She looked up at him with the hints of a smile. "It's fine, Perseus. If I'd been freed I'd never have met a certain son of Hephaestus."

Leo gagged. "That was _way_ too cheesy babe." Calypso nodded.

"I know, I already regret it. Pretend I didn't say that. But anyway, it's not really your fault I wasn't freed. Zeus, however, I'll deal with _him_ later. And I'm... well I don't know how to say... I'm sorry to you and Annabeth Chase for... for cursing you both... it was a moment of weakness and I guess it subconsciously slipped out. When you're a... titaness, everything you say has power."

Annabeth smiled. "It's all good. I'm just glad you finally got off that island.'

"So am I. Gardening gets old after a few millennia. So does insanity."

Jason watched with a grin as his best friend proceeded to make out with his new _friend_. _Gods is this how he feels when Piper and I do stuff? Cause... jeez._

"Whoa whoa slow down guys, I don't wanna be scarred for life." Percy said, nose scrunched in disgust.

"Oh shut up Percy, you and Annabeth have no room to speak." Leo said before he returned to aggressively kissing Calypso. Percy shrugged in agreement. Even Annabeth nodded in grudging affirmation.

After the two had finally given it a rest, Calypso turned to face the Camp. "This place is... oh it's _beautiful_. Well, I mean I'm sure my standards are beyond low right now, as it's been way too long since I've seen anything like this."

Leo nodded. "Maybe you should go see Chiron for a look around."

Calypso's eyes lit up, and she began speaking the way Annabeth did when she talked about anything remotely architectural. "Chiron? He's one of my cousins! Well technically he's a generation up. He's a child of Kronos, and I'm a daughter of Atlas, who is a son of Iapetus, who is Kronos's brother, so he's my _uncle_ but he's a bit younger than me, so it's never gonna happen."

Everyone except Jason and Annabeth seemed to be completely lost. Leo looked at her confusedly, and she shook her head. "Never mind. I'll go find him, I guess. Wonder if he's aged."

With that, she disappeared down the hill toward the Big House, leaving the Seven (plus Nico) to themselves.

Leo scratched his neck impatiently. "I dunno bout you guys, but I'm starving."


End file.
